N-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen!

So a few weeks back I got an email from The List (Scotland's version of Time Out), offering free tickets to their Christmas shindig if I wanted them. Naturally, I snapped at the chance to lig the event, which was timed to coincide with the release of the magazine's "Hot 100" of 2007's hippest and most happening, and sounded like it should therefore be fairly ligworthy. Hey, I'm shallow; sue me. Anyway, obviously an obscure genre scumbag like me is not going to be on the guest list because I'm actually in the Hot 100, but I figured that my name had probably slipped onto some additional invitees list because of a group interview/article a wee while back by journalist Doug Johnstone in connection with the Ballads of the Book album. I knew that the album had been something of a success, what with the Celtic Connections and Triptych gigs, and the word coming back from friends at university that it had generated a fair bit of buzz amongst students. So it seemed like the most plausible cause.

What I didn't actually think of was the possibility that the album itself would actually make it into the Hot 100... at the #19 spot, no less!

So, yeah, fucking cool! The party itself was a fun way to spend a few hours, with a few free drinks thrown in, but most of the folks in attendance seemed to be behind-the-scenes media-types rather than recogniseable faces, so it didn't exactly feel like hobnobbing with celebrities. I did spot Grant Morrison but didn't get a chance to chat with him before he disappeared. Still, I caught up with Alan Bissett, met and chatted with Andrew from Chemikal Underground, and generally had a good time with me mates, partying into the wee hours. So, yeah, as I say... fucking cool!

Also, is it bad/sad of me to be chuffed that, at #19, the Ballads album puts us (by which, of course, I mean ME!!!) above Alan Cumming (#58), David Tennant (#36) and J.K. Rowling (#53)? Hah! Nightcrawler, Doctor Who and Harry Potter! Eat my dust, losers!

Top Twenty, mate. Top Fuckin Twenty!